More Lost Than Before
by katalizi
Summary: As the island time jumps backwards and forwards, Sawyer and Juliet come across the last thing they expected. CharliexClaire. First fic!


This is my first Lost fanfic. I've just started watching season 5, and was feeling a might upset that my two fav characters are no longer on the show. But hey, with time travel anything is possible!!

_Definate CC, some Skate and Suliet, if you want to see it._

_I own a laptop, and nothing else._

Once again, for no apparent reason, people were shooting at Sawyer.

But it was even worse then that this time, because instead of just having to worry about his own good self, he now had an 'Other' along for the ride. At least Juliet could pull her own weight during a fight (or in this case, flight), but she did have an annoying and suicidal tendency to stop and try to help the injured - who had been clearly shot through the chest and were dead.

So Sawyer kept a firm hold onto her hand as he half led, half dragged her though the dark and rainy jungle, jumping over fallen logs and dodging low hanging vines as bullets, flaming arrows and God know what else went flying past his ear.

"Time shift, you mean sons of bitches!! Time shift now!" he yelled as he ran blindly through the darkness, Juliet's small, cold hand in his the only sign he had that she was still there. Vaguely, he thought about how, at one point - oh so long ago – it would've been lunacy to talk to an island, but now all he could hope and pray for was that the island would answer back.

Suddenly, he lost his footing on the slippery undergrowth, and in a split second his ankle twisted beneath him and brought him crashing down in a painful heap. This was not helped by the fact that, through sheer instinct, he had tightened his grip on Juliet's hand and had therefore dragged her straight down on top of him, and they both landed in a tangled, squelchy mess.

Sawyer spat out an unpleasant mixture of mud and blood and started to swear non-stop in a growling monotone under his breath. Well, this was it. He was going to die with a face full of jungle crap, with rotten leaves sticking to his chin and fallen branches digging into his body. At least he was going out with a pretty blonde woman on top of him. So it wasn't all bad.

And as that exact thought crossed his mind the sky lit up, and a brilliant white light encased both him and Juliet, drowning out the faceless enemy that was just bearing down on them.

"About fucking time!" he cried, raising his voice over the whining din that accompanied the time shift, not caring that Juliet flinched as he yelled so close to her ear.

For a split second – or maybe several lifetimes – Sawyer was aware of nothing except the blinding light and Juliet's soft weight on top of him. Then everything cracked back to reality again and both of them blinked furiously in the sudden light of day. They had moved from the middle of a thunderstorm at night to a crystal clear morning. The ground was no longer soft and wet, but dry and hard and still incredibly uncomfortable. The island was mercifully quiet.

For a few moments they lay very still, listening closely to their environment as they tried to keep their nervous panting to a minimum.

"Do you think it's safe?" Juliet finally asked in her flat, clear voice.

"There ain't nothing about this damn island that's safe!" snapped Sawyer glaring up at her solum face. No emotion crossed her face at his outburst, although she did shift her weight ever so slightly. It was enough to alert Sawyer to the fact that a beautiful woman was laying on top of him. "And get the hell off me!" he growled, as he made to push her off to the side.

He felt her body tense and freeze before she even managed to convey the warning in her eyes. Something was wrong. Instinct, Sawyer's ever present friend, told him to stay still and he obeyed. From his position of laying flat on his back, he couldn't see much, so he instead strained his ears for the slightest sound as he resolutely stared past Juliet and fixed his gaze on the tree tops far above.

Only heartbeats later he heard what Juliet had sensed. They were only soft sounds, faint but coming closer. It was definitely human. Quick, light footsteps. The sound of crackling undergrowth. Heavy breathing … that turned into light little gasps.

He made himself look at Juliet, with the word's 'what the hell?' etched all over his face, and he was glad to see a similar look of confusion reflected in her own striking blue gaze.

Slowly and silently Juliet rolled off Sawyer, but kept low and hidden in the undergrowth. He followed her example, peering out from their sheltered bush to the small clearing in front of them. And what he saw was the very last thing he expected.

It was Claire and Charlie. But Sawyer wasn't all too sure where Charlie stopped and Claire began, because at this moment in time, in some secluded part of the jungle, they were wrapped tightly around each other, sharing some of the most passionate kisses that Sawyer had ever seen.

Sawyer said nothing. Juliet said nothing. They both just stared.

Claire had her arms wrapped around Charlie's shoulders, her hands alternating from running though his hair, cupping his cheeks, playing with his ear lobes and grabbing at the back of his neck when she wanted the kisses deepened. Charlie's own hands were quite busy too, with one hand splayed just above her ass, pushing her into him while the other lovingly ran up and down her back, sometimes reaching up to sink his fingers into her free flowing blonde hair, or just wrapping around to pull her even closer than Sawyer thought possible.

But it was the expression on their faces that mesmerised Sawyer. Sex, he'd seen before – hell, he'd probably had more sex with different women than anyone else since the crash – but he'd never seen a couple just so … _elated_ to be together. Whenever they pulled away for a few seconds breath he could see them actually _smiling_, a slow, smouldering smile from Claire and an almost giggly energy radiating from Charlie. The giddy way they explored each other's bodies made them look almost like teenagers, except that it was obvious they both knew damn well what they were doing.

As if to prove the point, Claire started pulling at the hem of Charlie's shirt, making small mewing noises of desire. Charlie quickly got the message, and within seconds his shirt was on the ground, something Claire was quick to respond to as she dropped down and started trailing kisses all over his bare chest, pausing to tease his nipples with her tongue, Charlie's hands snapping to grab her head and shoulders as he threw back his head, eyes closed, and gave a guttural moan of pleasure.

"Did you … know?" asked Juliet in a barely audible whisper.

"Did I know what?!" hissed Sawyer, refusing to drag his eyes away. Claire was now kissing Charlie's neck and nibbling on his ear as he grabbed her ass with both hands and started grinding her into him. "Did I know they were having wild hot jungle sex?? Hell no! I always thought that even Bernard and Rose were gettin' it on more than alter boy and mama!"

"Well, I guess you were wrong." Said Juliet blandly, as Charlie's hands left Claire's ass to grab at her thighs, quickly pulled her up in one motion so her legs looped around his waist as he pushed her up against a tree.

Suddenly an image of Kate flashed before Sawyer's eyes, of how he had once preformed the same move on her, but instead of being against a tree, it was up against the cold metal bars of a cage that was meant to house wild animals. He remembered how she had twisted her hands around those bars, how he had reached up to grab her wrists and held her there like some mockery of surrender – which in a way, it was. But there was none of that with Charlie and Claire. Charlie had taken care to put one hand behind her back to cushion the blow as she hit bark, while her own hands never left his face, as she bent down to keep the kiss connected even as she was thrust upwards.

"We should go." Growled Sawyer softly. Was every damn thing on this island going to remind him of Kate? "This here's something I do not need to see."

"We can't go," replied Juliet softly, her unblinking gaze still fixed on the lovers.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because we've got nowhere to go to." She stated coolly. "We won't be able to leave this bush without attracting attention. We're clearly in the past. Those two are dead."

It felt like an anvil of reality had just dropped on him. Sawyer's head snapped around as he glared at Juliet's profile, fury building up in his gut. "We don't know Claire's dead." He snarled, but already he knew those were empty words.

"Missing on this island is as good as dead." Was all Juliet said.

Sawyer was just about to answer when his attention was suddenly drawn back to the couple. His jaw dropped. In the time that he had looked away, somehow Claire had lost her shirt, now only clad in a simple black bra and jeans. Her back was still against the tree, except now she was standing with Charlie kneeling before her, running his hands up along her jean clad legs and onto her smooth pale skin, staring up at her with a look of utter reverence.

Sawyer gulped. He was sure that if he were in VH1's position, he'd be feeling pretty damn religious too.

For a moment neither of them seemed to be doing anything. Sawyer was wondering what the hell the hold up was, as Charlie had just left his hands at Claire's waist, his thumbs lightly dusting across her soft and rounded stomach, which still bore the stretch marks. Claire had his face cupped in her hands, brushing his hair back and looking down at him with such unashamed emotion that even cynical Sawyer felt something move inside him. And then he realised that the sex was just a by-product of them being out here, not the objective. They simply wanted to be together.

"I love you." She whispered, her voice sounding thick as though she was struggling to hold back tears even though she was smiling. "I love you for reasons I can't even think of." Her fingers danced over the thick dark scar on his forehead. "I love you for all you've done for me." And as her thumb ran over the lighter scar on his cheek Sawyer could swear he saw a small tear roll down her face. "I'm sorry." She said in a small choked voice.

"No …" murmured Charlie, shaking his head slightly as he stared up at her, suddenly as distressed as she was. "No, don't …" The rest of his words were lost to Sawyer as he watched Charlie plant kisses on her stomach, quickly running up to her rib cage, between her breasts, her chest, neck, and not stopping until he found her mouth again. He hungrily kissed her as if trying to draw a poison out of her and she eagerly replied, her tears running into his stubble. He whispered something in her ear and suddenly Claire gave a short burst of laugher despite herself. Sawyer and Juliet's eyebrows raised in unison.

"Do you often make women laugh during sex?" asked Juliet, her voice laced with incredulity.

"Never on purpose!" answered Sawyer.

Charlie nibbled on her neck for a moment as Claire giggled before suddenly dropping down to clamp his mouth over one breast, suckling it through her bra. Claire's giggles got caught in the throat as she gasped in surprise, her eyes widening and rolling back as she stared up at the sky.

"Gently!" she gasped.

Charlie paused to kiss her neck. "Always."

Within seconds her bra was on the ground – Sawyer realised that he should've credited the guitarist with nimble fingers – and Charlie continued his ministrations to Claire's swollen and sensitive breasts as tiny gasps and moans escaped her throat. A small part of Sawyer knew that he should look away – but then again, he'd never been a decent man, so why start now? But what shocked him was that Juliet wasn't choosing to look away either, but kept her unblinking gaze fixed on the two. It seemed that she was as amoral as him.

"You're beautiful." whispered Charlie, moving back up to Claire's face to rain light kisses all over her and speaking quickly through his kisses. "So … so beautiful. I love you. Oh God, I love you."

Claire pushed herself off the tree; her hands running along Charlie's bare back, her finger's tracing unknowable patterns. Charlie's hands dipped down between them as he began to work on the buckle of her jeans, slowly pulling her towards the ground and all the while never breaking the kiss they shared. Suddenly Claire pulled back and stared into Charlie's eyes with something more than love and lust.

"I'll _never_ give up on you." She said fiercely.

Sawyer had no idea what the hell she was talking about, but Charlie's reaction still surprised him a bit. For a fraction of a second he looked so deeply sad and troubled. And in the next second he captured Claire's mouth with his again. The kisses started to become desperate.

Claire's belt was now free, and Charlie began to push the denim down her hips …

… just as the world around them was drowned out in a blinding white light.

Sawyer had one last glimpse of the two of them entwined, nothing more than a shadow that looked more like one person than two. And then they were gone.

When the world stopped spinning the sun was just setting, and Sawyer and Juliet were very much alone.

"Son of a …" Sawyer started to sigh, before catching Juliet's eye. "Uh … it's a good thing we moved on when we did." He quickly covered. The look Juliet gave him showed that he was fooling no one.

After making completely and utterly sure that they were alone, the finally stood up and left the shelter of their bush, stretching out cramped muscles and checking bumps and bruises.

"I wonder when we are this time." Said Juliet.

Sawyer's mind was still fixed on Claire and Charlie. It suddenly dawned on his just how different they'd both be depending on _when_ the landed. Was Claire still pregnant now, or was she trekking through the jungle with Kate to find medicine to help Aaron, or was she using herself as bait to draw out Ethan? Was Charlie hiding somewhere snorting heroin, or helping Eko build his church, or swinging helplessly from some tree where he'd been strung up and left for dead? Was Claire speaking to Charlie? Was Charlie watching him kill a polar bear? Was Claire letting him hold Aaron for the first time, the day after Hurley had conned him into being nice?

Or where they both exactly where they left them? Charlie, dead and rotting at the bottom of the ocean, and Claire, God knows where on this God forsaken island.

It took a moment for him to realise that Juliet was talking to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her crystal clear eyes staring straight into his.

Sawyer opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Was he alright? He wasn't sure. This time travelling business was doing his head in. Seeing those two had just reminded him of all the people from flight 815 that he was never going to be with again, all those strangers who had become some of his closest friends. All gone.

Juliet was waiting for an answer, but at that moment he just couldn't give her what she wanted. So he snapped back with sarcasm. "For godssake, I just saw mamachan's tits! Give a man a moment!"

Juliet blinked, nodded, and looked away while Sawyer scowled and beat a fist against his leg. He had to get the hell over this.

"They were so beautiful together." Said Juliet. Sawyer looked up at her, eyes wide as he saw her starting into the spot where Charlie and Claire once existed. "It's been a long time since I've had anything like that." She said almost wistfully. "I'd give anything to be those two."

"Well, you shouldn't." growled Sawyer, staring at her through his hair, his fist still swinging at his side. "Remember what you said before – they're both dead."

He turned and started walking, anything to get away from that clearing.

_They're both dead._

Was Charlie helping him con the whole camp?

_They're both dead._

Was he helping Claire with the memorial?

_They're both dead._

Were the two of them standing hand in hand at one end of the beach, having just released a tagged bird with a message, in the ever-fading hope of rescue?

_They're both dead._

How many more time would he have to think it before it stopped hurting?


End file.
